Reality and Rumour Collide
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: Heroes didn't exist, and Fleur knows that expecting a hero of Harry Potter would be ridiculous. An attention seeker is what she expected, but didn't get.


**Written for: Quidditch League - Ballycastle Bats Keeper: [Goggles] Write about someone seeing another person in a different light**

 **Word Count: 1669**

* * *

Walking into Hogwarts had been a disappointment. It was nothing like Beauxbatons' light and inviting atmosphere that welcomed her home. It was dusty and dreary, and Fleur couldn't understand how people could study in such a place.

She exchanged glances with the girls sitting around her near the window in the carriage. Their expressions showed the same distaste that they would have to hide once they stepped onto Hogwarts grounds. They wouldn't be able to share this disappointment with anyone outside their small group either.

"Fleur," Gabrielle said as she came through the door. Her eyes glanced out the window and widened. "Are we almost there already?"

Fleur smiled at Gabrielle's excitement. Gabrielle hadn't attended Beauxbatons for very long. The comforts of their school were lost within her excitement of spending a year in a different school. Fleur had been lucky that Madame Maxime had been willing to allow her sister to come with them. It would have been terribly dreary otherwise.

Madame Maxine's voice echoed through the carriage, informing them that they would be landing within the next ten minutes. They had already practiced their entrance before they had left Beauxbatons. There was nothing that could go wrong now, but Fleur knew better than to push Lady Luck when it wasn't necessary.

She kissed Gabrielle on the forehead, before leading her sister away from the window. The room in the carriage cleared behind her. The exit of the carriage was the size of a standard carriage: completely unlike the extended interior. They would barely be able to leave in pairs as Madame Maxime had demanded.

They were allowed a brief glance at the assembled Hogwarts students while Madame Maxime informed their groundskeeper on how to care for their Abraxan horses. They would have only the walk to the hall for whatever last preparations they needed. Fleur didn't need to prepare. She only walked in with Gabrielle behind Madame Maxime. Fleur knew that Gabrielle would have run off exploring otherwise. Madame Maxime had clearly thought so too.

Gabrielle had become notorious for being found in places she should never have been able to find within the Palace of Beauxbatons and she may have known more about the hidden passages than even the oldest students.

As they strutted into the Hogwarts castle, Fleur kept a close hold on Gabrielle. If she got lost now, it would be difficult to find her, but Gabrielle's attention had already been drawn away. The Durmstrang ship was docked at the edge of the lake, and its occupants were approaching the Hogwarts castle in a militaristic fashion .

…oOo…

Fleur could see that Madame Maxime was content with their performance. The Durmstrang Headmaster didn't look particularly happy, but it was difficult to imagine the Durmstrang Headmaster with any positive expression on his face.

Gabrielle had settled down as they sat at the table with the blue banners above it. It truly was ridiculous that Hogwarts hadn't thought to give them separate tables, instead of having them join a section of the Hogwarts students. Fleur couldn't really understand why they would believe separating the students to be a good idea anyway, but it wasn't her school, so she wouldn't complain.

It was then that Fleur's eyes settled on a trio sitting at the table under the red banner. The red-haired boy was craning his neck towards the Durmstrang students. The other boy glanced towards the Durmstrang students occasionally, before his eyes turned back to the girl who was trying to tell him something over the din in the hall.

She followed the redhead's gaze to a familiar-looking face. He was a Quidditch player, if Fleur wasn't mistaken. She had seen his face in the newspapers during the Quidditch World Cup. She hadn't thought he had been that young.

"That's Viktor Krum!" Gabrielle whispered excitedly, confirming Fleur's suspicions. "Can I go meet him?"

"Gabrielle," Fleur said, sighing. "You'll have the whole year for that. Allow him a bit of rest first. Maman would be upset if she heard you were troubling a person you didn't know."

Gabrielle looked mildly upset, before cheering up again as she spotted the enchantment on the ceiling.

"It looks just like the sky!"

Gabrielle was only silent while the Hogwarts Headmaster introduced and welcomed them to the school. The food that appeared on the tables a moment later was both foreign and familiar, and Fleur thought that for the first night it was probably better to stick to the familiar. Gabrielle had other thoughts and had already taken spoonfuls of anything that looked interesting.

Fleur was almost certain Gabrielle would be sick tomorrow.

It was only on their way out that Fleur spotted the lightning bolt scar on the black-haired boy's forehead. It was the boy from the trio she had noticed earlier, and Fleur was glad Gabrielle hadn't spotted him earlier. There would have been no convincing her to stay away from the boy who was something of a historical figure already.

Growing up, their parents had told them stories of Harry Potter. Gabrielle had heard it all her life. Fleur's own readings from History of Magic had helped her draw the conclusion that the boy didn't really deserve all the credit. He had lost his parents on that October night, and his parents are where the real credit should go. It was almost a certainty that it was something Lily and James Potter had done that allowed their son to survive.

He wasn't everything the British witches and wizards made him out to be, and Fleur was sure the boy was enjoying every second of the attention. That wasn't the kind of person she wanted Gabrielle spending a lot of time around, let alone looking up to. An idealised story was fine, but the real person was nothing like the stories.

When the name 'Harry Potter' came out of the Triwizard Cup as the fourth champion, that was all Fleur needed to confirm that Harry Potter liked the attention. He was a good actor too, by his shocked expression.

Fleur wasn't going to fall for his trick.

…oOo…

The first task had been a fluke.

Fleur could admit that Harry Potter was a good flyer, on par with even Viktor Krum despite the latter being a professional. It was terrifying, and Fleur had hoped he had learnt a lesson about knowing his limits.

The Hungarian Horntail was the most vicious of the dragons they had gathered for the first task. Even she had been shaken looking at the dragon from the sidelines. She had seen Harry push away his fear, and face the dragon, coming out nearly unscathed.

Gabrielle had cheered, and Fleur had barely been able to hold her sister from running over to him. Standing against a dragon seemed to only confirm Harry's hero status in Gabrielle's eyes.

The second task, however, was something even she hadn't been prepared for. The Grindylows had grabbed her and tangled her near the bottom of the lake, and she had panicked.

Despite knowing they had Gabrielle, she hadn't managed to save her little sister. As her head broke through the water, disappointment in herself and a real dread for what would happen to Gabrielle welled up. The logical part of her mind knew that Gabrielle wasn't a competitor: she couldn't be grievously harmed by the tournament, but if the warnings from the egg were true, it was possible that she would never see Gabrielle again.

Fleur wrung her hands as she waited. The others hadn't come up yet, even Harry Potter was still hidden within the depths of the water. Viktor Krum emerged first with Harry Potter's female friend in tow. Even after seeing the two of them at the Yule Ball, Fleur still couldn't quite understand how it had happened. Hermione was a Muggleborn, after all, and Viktor went to one of the few blood elitist schools in Europe.

The Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, surfaced next. Next to him, a female with a blue tie spluttered in her drenched robes. Fleur had seen the two together around the castle when Gabrielle's need for adventure had been irresistible.

It was several moments later when the redhead of the trio surfaced, along with Fleur's sister. The rush of relief nearly made her knees buckle. The redhead helped her sister towards the stands while Harry Potter surfaced after them. It took him only a few seconds to catch up, and soon Gabrielle was out of the freezing water.

Fleur rushed over to her, wrapping a towel with a warming charm around Gabrielle. The female of the trio had come rushing over with Fleur. Her towel was quickly wrapped around Harry, despite her being almost completely wet herself.

"Fleur! That's Harry Potter! Harry Potter saved me!" Gabrielle's excited voice drew her attention back to her sister. The person that hadn't been Harry's responsibility to save.

"Yes, Harry Potter saved you." Fleur smiled at Gabrielle. "Would you like to go thank him?"

"Really?" Gabrielle's eyes glittered with her excitement, and Fleur was dragged over to where the trio stood—wet and shivering.

"Thank you for saving my little sister," Fleur told Harry in the seconds before she knew Gabrielle would break into chatter. Fleur turned to the redhead, "And you too."

Fleur took a moment to cast warming charms on the three of them, and they noticeably relaxed, each sending her a thankful glance. She could barely believe how wrong she had been. Defeating the Dark Lord may not have been Harry's doing, but he still cared for other people—risking his life to ensure others were safe.

She'd noticed how long over the one-hour mark Harry had been underwater for. The only explanation she had been able to come up with was that he had waited. Fleur didn't know how long he had waited, but he must have known that she wasn't coming to save Gabrielle.

Harry was a hero. Somehow the fame had not overwhelmed him, and Fleur couldn't deny her gratitude for that unusual trait.


End file.
